24 Weeks and Counting...Sewing, Showing & Growing

This past week I went to San Antonio for work and stayed through the weekend with mom to work on baby bedding. We made incredible progress over the weekend sewing virtually non-stop and have nearly completed our project. I will be attempting to finish the bedding up myself and I'm hoping this attempt is successful since I also broke down and bought a pattern for baby clothes on Sunday. Whoops! haha

Mom cutting out pieces on the bed - there was fabric everywhere for this project!

Me adjusting my shirt to prepare for MORE cutting. The belly really looks large here!

At 24 weeks, I regularly incite comments like "Op! Looks like someone has an additional passenger." as I worked my way through the security line at the airport and "You shouldn't be lifting that. Can I carry that for you?" And the belly continues to grow! It is noticeably harder now for me to bend over and pick things up, it's harder to roll over in bed at night and I am hungry all the time, but I can't eat nearly as much in one sitting because of all the space that baby now consumes.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't intimidated by the growth that is to come in the remaining weeks. I'm overwhelmed when I think about our baby being here in 112 days or less (that's right people, I'm still not hoping she'll be past-due but I do really appreciate all of you that tell me about your babies that came 2 and 3 weeks late) and excited about all of the learning that we have to do between now and then AND after she arrives.

I'm particularly amazed to think of her in there this week because my twin cousins Heather and Holly were born somewhere between 24 and 25 weeks and I feel like they give me a glimpse of what Baby Anderson must look like in there. They were so tiny with red skin that you couldn't rub because it hurt them, no visible nipples at all (which is why I found it fascinating that these are on Baby Anderson's development list for this month!), their eyes were still sealed shut and admittedly, they were still very unprepared to be in this world. However as unbelievably tiny as they were, they were in many other ways more prepared than you would expect for being born just over half way through a pregnancy. They were living breathing babies and with help from the NICU they and are now happy 1-year olds! So when I think about our daughter being that much of a baby hanging out under this swell of belly.... well, that is pretty amazing.

I look admittedly tired in this picture, but I wanted to hurry and take it early into week 24 for accurate documentation. The belly at 24 weeks.

23 Weeks and Counting...Hi-YAH!

Having never had to write out the noise that you would make when doing a karate chop, I'm not sure if "hi-YAH!" is the proper spelling, but it's my best attempt.

At 23 weeks on the dot, Michael felt the baby move. He's also seen the baby move my belly! So much of the time it seems that she is active when we're not together (e.g. when I'm at work, or happen to be up later than him) but Sunday night after Michael arrived home from his Vegas trip and we'd eaten dinner with Murray, Helen, Charlie and Cathy at Pappasitos, I sat on our bed and waited. Michael leaned on the edge of the bed waiting and watching and then he saw it - little bumps from tiny punches and kicks on the surface of my belly.

The growth spurt as promised a few weeks ago from our doctor has begun. I'm sure the pictures will only get more entertaining from here, but I share these because they're part of this crazy journey that is our first baby and because I know all who read this blog love us (big belly and all). Oh, and some of you may have made special request to see the belly button! haha

The baby is continuing to beef up for 23 weeks and as I travel to San Antonio for 5 nights this week (Wed. - Sun.) I am sure that she will grow even more and surprise Michael when I return home. Truthfully, it doesn't even feel like my body when I look at these pictures below because it's sort of surreal that this whole process is taking place separate and apart from anything that I am consciously doing for this baby. She grows on and the belly stretches on and for the most part I am still feeling pretty good!

23 Weeks from the Side

23 Weeks from the Front (plus one cute Hucklebear!)

The Original Baby: Huck has learned to jump up.

Huck, our original and first baby, has always been a jumper on people's legs. He just wishes he could get up to your face and give you a hug and a kiss... But there are other places where Huck cannot jump. He cannot jump into your lap if you're sitting on a chair. He cannot jump up on the fireplace hearth and warm himself by the fire. If you put him on the bed, he'll stand at the edge afraid to jump down unless you say the word "treat". People will try and coax him up onto the couch and it's like he doesn't even know what they are doing when they pat that space next to where they're sitting.

This, it turns out, has been a blessing, because Huck never gets on people's furniture when they dog-sit, he can't jump on the furniture and bother company when they come over invited or not, and because we rarely put him in our bed (except for infrequent occasion that he's just had a bath and we want to wrestle with him as he burrows under the covers) he never sits besided the bed begging to be picked up.That said....

There was an incident a couple of weeks ago where Huck accidentally bounced his ball onto the love seat. He cried at the ball from the ground and when I turned around for a moment I found that he'd jumped on the love seat and was laying down chewing his ball. I turned around for one second longer to put my computer on the coffee table so I could go over and make him get down and to my surprise he was walking along the built-ins BEHIND the love seat!! Since then we hadn't seen him get on the furniture, but in the last two days or so when his ball has gotten stuck up in Michael's recliner, on the couch and last night on the COFFEE TABLE (what?!) Huck has figured out that he CAN jump up there and get the ball himself. Now it's sort of become the game to GET the ball on stuff so that he can have the fun of jumping up to get it.

Yes, last night we found the dog that used to cry at his ball from the ground, standing in the recliner and crying at this ball on the floor! It seems that we have a little monster on our hands just in time for Halloween. Oh Hucklebear you are quite the stinker!

22 Weeks and Counting...Thumping Pumkins

Well, Wednesday is better than nothing for my weekly update! I am starting this post late at night on Tuesday actually (though I doubt it will be finished for days) and Michael has already gone to bed. I'm up working, but I just couldn't resist starting this post now because....

Last Wednesday, midway through week 21, we had our monthly checkup. Dr. Thurston listened to the heartbeat and measured my belly and assured us everything was completely normal even though I wasn't feeling the baby yet. Apparently the way the placenta is positioned acts as a big pillow in front of the baby, making it harder for me to feel her movements, blah, blah, pregnancy talk. Anyway, I think it was Thursday afternoon at work (the very next day!), when I was sitting at my desk and thought I felt her move... then again! ... and again! I didn't have this feeling of flutters, bubbles, or these other tickle-y sounding feelings that other people described. Instead, this felt like a thumping on the inside of a pumpkin and that pumpkin is my belly! Truthfully, I told Michael that it was like thumping a melon from the inside out... but I mean, it's October now - so, pumpkin it is!

As I sit on the couch she was moving around like a mad woman in there and I could even feel her when I put my hand on my stomach. And so, I ran and woke Michael up, put his hand on my belly and waited.... nothing,.... stillness... of course! Back on the couch she's up to her previous antics! SIGH. Maybe it will be another week or so for daddy.

The week by week developments now are more general because her main task is to gain weight. All of our resources compiled guess/estimate the following things for this week: she is sleeping 12 to 14 hours a day (JEALOUS!), she can now hear noise outside the womb, she is sprouting nipples (more on why this is fascinating later), her face is fully formed, she's growing tooth buds beneath her gums, and she is about the size of a papaya.

She's still got thin wrinkly, hairy skin - until her body pads up with fat - and the irises in her eyes still lack pigment. Now don't get me wrong, this is our precious daughter in there, who I am sure is just lovely... but it does sound like this week she's still got a pretty good look going for Halloween! haha

This week marks the first week that people have asked me when our baby was due and if I had an announcement. I am now CLEARLY pregnant to the world - and so much so that these people are brave enough to ask. Michael is still "just ready for her to get here" and is loving watching the growing belly thinking about his daughter-to-come. I'm not joking when I tell you that if you think daddies with babies are sweet, it will melt your heart to watch your husband preparing to become one. I definitely shed a tear at Target the other day three pages into a picture book with little quotes called "Why Daughters Need Their Dads".

Until we blog again....

22 Weeks (note the awesome maternity jeans that cover up a large portion of the belly and do a strange wrinkle thing in the back still because my belly isn't big enough to pull them tight)

Cramps, Cravings and Other Pregnant Oddities...21 Weeks

Today (Monday) I am officially past the halfway mark, I am 21 weeks. Just to clarify (if you're like me before I was pregnant and your brain doesn't work in pregnancy weeks) I have been pregnant for about 4 1/2 months now and I am 'in the 5th month'.

I haven't talked much about pregnancy symptoms in these blog posts, but let me just take a moment to tell you about all the strange little things that many people fail to talk about in regards to pregnancy... My calves are tight like I've just done 100 calf raises and didn't stretch afterwards - they cramp regularly in the middle of the night causing me to leap from bed and startling Michael awake. My mouth is extra watery. I am extra thirsty. My nails are growing fast, but they're thin. My cravings and aversions are random and unexplained - I want Cesar salad desperately, first trimester regular mint flavors sounded gross and now the cinnamon that I replaced the other mints with tastes strange. I gag when I take vitamins or any other pill, which I never did before, and this is especially inconvenient now as I have more pills to take than ever with all the vitamins (and now Tylenol thanks to braces)! Last but not least... a better known 'symptom' is the popping belly button, but it feels entirely too early for my belly button to be on the way out - in my mind that is for 'really pregnant people' - but perhaps I just don't realize that I'm in that category!

Still, as I tell anyone who asks, this pregnancy has been so easy compared to others I've heard of, I really can't complain! I feel good most days and all the check ups I've had have been positive. We love our doctor, I have a wonderful, supporting husband and friends and we're really looking forward to sharing this beautiful little girl (skeletor) with our loved ones.

21 weeks from the side
21 weeks from the front

19 and 20 weeks...Half way there!

Well I missed again last week for the 19 week post, but I do have pictures from 19 and 20 weeks I can share today. I was so proud of myself initially for such diligent updates, but as I indicated last post, work has been absolutely crazy and does not promise to get better anytime soon! I guess pride does come before the fall... so much for regular blogging!

19 Weeks

20 Weeks (that belly button is on it's way out!)

My 18th and 19th weeks were good as far as how I have been feeling but work schedules haven't really allowed for the gym schedule I hoped to keep. The baby is the size of the cantaloupe this week (20 weeks) and I'm officially half way through my pregnancy... but let's not talk too much about that lest I freak myself out about all that remains to be done! She's "eating" several ounces of amniotic fluid every day to practice her swallowing and digesting and now her previously-existent taste buds work! Her body is now producing meconium (which is the "tar" that will show up in her first couple of diapers) and this will accumulate in her bowels until she is born unlike the urine. Appropriate dinner conversation? No. Fascinating? Yes!

The baby's room is almost entirely cleaned out now and Michael busted out the shelves in the closet this past week (thank you! thank you! thank you!) which will allow us to patch, sand and paint the closet so we can hang the wire shelving. As of this morning I am 98% positive on the fabrics we'll use for the bedding (that mom and I currently plan to make) which allows for further decision making on things like sheets, changing pad covers, room paint, etc. I should be excited about another decision down - I am, really I am - but in my pregnant brain it also feels like that opened the flood gates to more decision making! Alas, the to-do list grows and the schedule fills up, but the phrase that surfaced first at our wedding is now applicable to baby ... "It will all get done!"

I'm supposed to be gaining about a pound a week from here on out and though it's been that way for the last couple of weeks I seriously feel like my belly is getting bigger by the day. We still do not have a name though that is THE #1 question we're asked these days, but I do feel like our list of options is getting smaller. Hopefully something "will just feel right" very soon. I also still do not feel this little one moving yet, but if the sonogram is any indication...once I can feel her it is going to be non-stop activity. For now I will just enjoy the stillness of the belly!

Natasha

17 and 18 Weeks... a growing baby GIRL!

Of all the weeks to miss a post, I missed last week! It was also a bad week to miss the weekly picture since my belly is swelling by the day!

Below, the girls at 18 weeks.Week 16 and 17 have both been good weeks as far as how I have been feeling. I've made it to the gym a few times and it feels nice to be back in that routine. Work has been very busy (which is one of the reasons I'm behind) and so it's been a routine of wake-up, work, cook dinner, work more, sleep, repeat. In the midst of work I'm also trying to make time for our baby to-do-list which seems to be growing by the day.

Below, baby's profile and her 'skeletor' face.

Our sonogram in week 17 revealed that baby is very healthy, has a complete four chamber heart, two kidneys receiving adequate blood flow and normal sized brain, head, torso and femur. She moved non-stop the entire sonogram keeping her feet crossed right where we needed to see and so she is either very modest or ridiculously active - the sonogram technician said that we had a "a little ninja baby!" They estimated that she weighs about 9 oz. I think it's safe for me to speak for both of us when I say that we couldn't be happier, we're so excited, and we're so ready for her to be here with us... it's also safe to say that those things would all be just as true if it were a boy. The peace of mind that comes with knowing our growing baby is healthy as far as the doctors can tell, is worth it's weight in gold.

Last but not least.... Week 17 we had an onion and this week, week 18, we have a sweet potato! At this point baby's organs are all there and just working on maturing. She can swallow, yawn, roll, hiccup, punch and kick. I wait quietly, sitting nice and still hoping to feel some of this activity, but so far nothing! I'm entering the 'zone' where these movements are supposed to feel more distinct so it really could be any day now. What to Expect When You're Expecting says she should be around 5 oz. this week, http://www.thebump.com/ says she should be around 6.7 oz. and the sonogram last week showed she was actually around 9oz... of all the ways I hope our daughter is above average, I wasn't hoping that #1 is her birth weight! haha

Thanks to all of you who prayed for a positive sonogram, healthy baby, and healthy mommy. We continue to feel overwhelmed by the love and support of our friends and family as we creep along towards our due date!

- Natasha